Drunk and Wide Awake

Alcohol use is nothing new. Alcohol is sold at stores, bars and night clubs all over Pinellas County. It is, however, part of a new trend. Over the past couple of years, mixing alcohol and energy drinks has become increasingly popular. It is especially popular among young people, who lead the pack in consuming the beverage combination. Sometimes people mix alcohol with energy drinks and in other instances manufactures make a premixed product.

Why Not Mix?

The problem is that alcohol and energy drinks are polar opposites. Alcohol is a depressant, whereas energy drinks are stimulants so while one of the effects of alcohol is to sedate you, the energy drinks work against it by making you wide awake.

This can lead to trouble, especially for younger drinkers who are not as experienced with regulating their behavior while they are drinking in the first place. A study released by the University of Florida puts the trend into perspective. This study reports that young people who mixed alcohol and energy drinks leave bars later and more intoxicated than their peers who drink only alcohol.

Unexpected Consequences

UF also report an additional likelihood that those who mix the beverages are willing to drive. The effects of the energy drinks make the drinker feel as if they are more awake and wrongfully leads them to feel as if they are more alert. This can be a dangerous combination because as we all know, drunk people are not the best decision makers. If they drive, they are not only endangering themselves, but anyone else who may be on the road at the time.

The Center for Disease Control has also weighed in on the situation. They report that not only are these drinks popular with children as young as twelve; consuming them increases the chances of ending up being taken advantage of sexually. These are scary facts alone, but they cause more alarm when you consider that many of the marketing campaigns associated with these drinks seem to target young people with wildly colored packaging and “cool” marketing messages. The CDC goes on to report that between 2002 and 2008 the sale of two particular caffeinated alcoholic beverages increased over six thousand percent. As you can see by the sales alone, these types of drinks are gaining popularity.

Community Response

The question of course is “what do we do about this as a community?” As of November 2009 the FDA is officially looking into the matter. Their current stance is that the main stimulating ingredient is caffeine and caffeine is “generally accepted as safe” so they do not spend a lot of time regulating alcoholic energy drinks. In fact they have not formally categorized caffeinated alcoholic beverages at all.

This status very well may change in the near future after their investigation is done. Senators, state attorney generals and other public figures have all spoken out against the products and encouraged the FDA to use their influence to help control the trend. We will likely see more about this topic in the news in coming months as more decisions are made.

In the meantime we can educate ourselves and our children. Have realistic straightforward talks with young people about alcohol, it’s effects and how it mixes with energy drinks. Education is one of the best available tools in this fight so let’s use it.

SOURCES
LiveFree! Pinellas County
MSNBC.com
Center for Disease Control
University of Florida News
Reuters.com